The '70s British Mystery The Racing Game Surprises With Its Dullness

If there's one interesting thing that came out of my viewing of The Racing Game, the new DVD release of the 1978 British miniseries, it's this: I've discovered that my love of all things British-TV does have a limit. Cuz this is rather dull, for all that it's set in the supposedly exciting world of horse racing -- not that I find horse racing terribly exciting anyway, so maybe it's an "it's not you, it's me" problem.

This set is two discs of six one-hour mysteries based upon the work of novelist Dick Francis, the hugely popular bestselling author through much of the second half of the 20th century. It's mostly a spin-off from his 1965 thriller Odds Against, and that's actually right there in the credits -- "The Dick Francis Thriller" -- which is kinda quaint, like it might also announce that the show is being broadcast "In Color!" (The series aired in the U.S. on PBS's Mystery!) The setup is this: former jockey Sid Halley (Mike Gwilym) is spiraling into a deep depression after a terrible injury to his hand -- a horse stepped on it; ouch -- leaves him unable to race, but he rescues himself, inadvertently, when he falls into private-eyeing. It seems there is no end of misdeeds going on at the racetrack and among the horsey set, and now Sid is there to stop the bad guys.

Race fixing, blackmail, murder, and horse-napping; a bit of B&E and fisticuffs, and helicopters -- man, helicopters were so damn cool in 1978. It's all here, in gloriously grainy 1970s square-screen TV, complete with a sidekick for Sid, Chico Barnes (Mick Ford), who knows judo and isn't afraid to use it, and groovy whack-a-chick-a disco music on the soundtrack. I suppose it was all very chic and hip in 1978, and so forgivable. What I can't forgive is that I never really care very much who fixes races or why, why favored horses are running poorly, or which bookie is up to which nefarious kind of cheating. And Sid himself is almost instantly forgettable: Francis, who served as a consultant on the series, liked Gwilym so much that he was inspired to write another novel about Halley, 1979's Whip Hand, but to my eyes, Gwilym is about as exciting as, well, horse patties.

There aren't any extras worth mentioning included with the set -- no commentaries, no making-of documentary, nothing but one of those text-only bios of Francis. That says to me that no one else much cared about this series, either.

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MaryAnn Johanson (email me)
film reviews and TV blogging at FlickFilosopher.com

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